The FirstBus boss claims he won't offer a MetroBus service on the South Bristol Link Road as he doesn’t want to “damage” the company's existing routes in the area - and he is not apologising for it.

Managing director of First West of England, James Freeman, claims the controversial South Bristol link road is not yet commercially profitable and is therefore not sorry about failing to offer a service on the route.

He added it was important the company does not “damage existing services” in the area - of which it has a virtual monopoly over.

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Metrobus routes are designed to be completely operator led and are not eligible for council subsidies like other bus routes in Bristol.

As such operators are free to pick and choose which routes they want to run and that has led to only the three most profitable ones being picked up.

“That [failing to run a Metrobus service on the South Bristol link road] is our fault, or down to us if you like, or down not just to us but the system which says we need operators,” Mr Freeman said.

“When it was clear Metrobus was actually going to happen other operating groups who were invited in gradually fell out as it became obvious that the whole system would not work commercially - you couldn't make enough money out of it - so we looked at it and said we can make this one work and this one work, but the peripheral bits just do not stack up, there just aren't enough people to justify operating.

First Bus ‘reasonably unapologetic’ about not offering Metrobus services on South Bristol link road

“In South Bristol the link goes sideways through the city, so we already run very frequent routes through Hartcliffe and Withywood in to the city via Bedminster and we don't want those to be damaged.

“Those routes aren't wastes because they have changed the traffic patterns which benefits bus operators and passengers and all of the South Bristol link by the time we are finished will be used by the buses going to and from Bristol Airport.

“I am reasonably unapologetic about that, what we are trying to do in South Bristol is provide the best possible level of service with a combination of Metrobus and the existing network.”

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The lack of a Metrobus service on the South Bristol link road has deeply upset local residents who feel like the area is being overlooked for investment yet again.

A spokesperson from the Metrobus team has previously told Bristol.Live the link road route was always a “ambition” and an example of “future proofing” infrastructure which will enable services to be offered when new housing projects - such as the Hengrove Park and the former Whitchurch Airport developments - are built.

“The map is an operator map, so it is the routes we have secured operators for,” Bristol City cabinet member for transport, Mhairi Threlfall.

“I have been working really closely with Karin Smyth who has made some really strong points on this fact that actually we need to tackle being the background bus network the connectivity with Bristol South.

“I am working hard with her at the moment and we are talking with and continuing to engage with operators to see what we can do around the link road and come to a resolution.

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“What has been interesting for me coming in towards the end of the project is that there are lessons which need to be learned including early operator involvement in projects, so that is important for anything in the future we engage in.

Councillor Mhairi Threlfall, Cabinet Member for Transport and Connectivity

“It is obviously disappointing, it was always going to be low load rates on that service - 95 per cent of the passenger loading is M1, M2, M3 which has been recognised by operators, but with the M4 M5 routes it is really important that as we have housing growth happening, we do take a transport first approach and that was the idea of the South Bristol link - it was recognising that we are going to have housing growth in the south of the city.”